21/2/2018 BEST LINUX CHMOD COMMAND WITH EXAMPLES

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BEST LINUX CHMOD COMMAND WITH EXAMPLES

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Introduction

I
n this article we are going to learn what is Linux chmod
command and how to use it. chmod command is used in
Linux related operating system to Change file mode bits. In
simple language you can change the permissions of files and
directories in Linux using chmod command. There are two methods
by which we can change the permission’s :

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1. Alphabetical
2. Numerical

To change permission using Linux chmod command we have to

follow some syntax and rules. As we discussed above we can
change permission using Numerical and Alphabetical way, Here I
have explained both method’s with all tricks.

Alphabetical Way :

To use this method you have to remember below rules and

alphabets for proper use.

To change permission of user you have to use the alphabet “u“. Like
that for Group “g” and for others it’s “o“.
Newsletter
Like User, Group and Others we have to remember some alphabets
Signup for Updated Linux Tutorials,
to give Read, Write and Execute permission Like for Read Guides and News.
permission you have to use the alphabet “r“, for Write “w” and for
Execute it’s “x“. Email*

So the formula for assigning permissions using chmod command is Name

shown below :
Subscribe
u – User
g – Group
o – Others

r – Read
w – Write
x – Execute

For Example if you want to give Read & Write permission to

User/Owner and Read permission to Group & Others using
Alphabetical way then the command would be : chmod NXP i.MX6 SoM - From $24
u+rw,g+r,o+r Filename WiFi/BT, Single/Dual/Quad Core up
to 1.2GHz, CAN, USB, UART, SPI,
Display, Linux/Android

Numerical Way :

CATEGORIES

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21/2/2018 BEST LINUX CHMOD COMMAND WITH EXAMPLES

To use this method you have to remember below Rules and  Linux Basic Commands (26)
Numbers for proper use.
 Linux Basic Tool's (29)
4 – To give Read Permission
2 – To give Write Permission  Linux HowTo's (222)

1 – To give Execute Permission

 Linux News (7)

For Example if you want to give Read & Write permission to

 Monitoring Tools (2)
User/Owner and Read permission to Group & Others using Numeric
way then the command calculation would be :  Programming Languages (1)

4+2 = 6 : This will add Read & Write permission to User/Owner.  RHEL 7 (14)

4 : This will add Read permission to Group.  ubuntu (175)

4 : This will add Read permission to Other.  Webmin Guides (2)

So the command would be like : chmod 644 filename

You can check permission of any file using below command :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 06:16 file.t

And use the below command to check permission of a directory :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -ld data/

drwxrwxr-x 2 elinuxbook elinuxbook 4096 Feb 20 06:18 dat

Now here the question is How to Identify what permissions been

assigned to a file or a directory. It’s quiet simple.

Above I have given two examples. Now let’s identify the permission
of file.txt. If you notice the properties of the file starts with “-rw-rw-
r–“. Here we can identify what permission assigned to file.txt.

The permission section is divided in to 10 bits out of which

“–” : First bit is responsible to identify whether it’s an file, directory

or a Symbolic Link. Refer the symbols below :

Important symbols :

– : Permission assigned to a File

d : Permission assigned to a Directory
l : Permission assigned to a Symbolic Link

2nd, 3rd, 4th bit’s are for permission of Owner.

5th, 6th, 7th bit’s are for permission of Group.
8th, 9th, 10th bit’s are for permission of Others.

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To Give permission to any file/directory you have to use “+”

Symbol. Balamukunda Sahu
To remove permission from any file/directory you have to use Seguir

“–” Symbol. 121 seguidores

Now let’s have a look at some most

important Linux chmod command with
examples :
Assign permission to a File

Here I have a file named file.txt. Let’s give Read and Write

permission to User/Owner using chmod command.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod u+rw file.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
-rw------- 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 06:16 file.t

By Numerical Way use the below command :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod 600 file.txt

Also Read :

EXPLAINING SPECIAL LINUX PERMISSIONS ( SUID | SGID |

STICKY BIT )
COMPLETE UNIX COMMANDS AND BASIC LINUX COMMANDS
WITH EXAMPLES FOR BEGINNERS

Assign Permission to a Directory

The below command can be used to give permission to a directory.

Here I have a directory named data. So let’s give Full Permission
(Read, Write, Execute) to User/Owner. Refer the command below.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod u+rwx data/

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -ld data/

drwx------ 2 elinuxbook elinuxbook 4096 Feb 20 06:18 dat

Numerical Way :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod 700 data/

Remove permission from a file/directory

Remove permission from a file/directory using below Linux chmod

command. Here I am removing Read and Write permission from
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21/2/2018 BEST LINUX CHMOD COMMAND WITH EXAMPLES

User/Owner.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod u-rw file.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
----rw-r-- 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 07:18 file.t

Give permission to Everyone

You can use the below command to give permission to everyone.

Here I am assigning Full Permission to everyone to access file.txt.
There are two methods to do the same.

Method : 1

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod a+rwx file.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 06:44 file.t

Method : 2

You can also use the below Linux chmod command to do the same.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod ugo+rwx file.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 06:44 file.t

Numerical Way :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod 777 file.txt

Assign di erent permissions to User, Group & Others by using

Single Linux chmod Command

Here I am Removing Execute permission from User/Owner and

Adding Execute permission to Group & Others by using single
command.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod u-x,g+x,o+x file.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l file.txt
-rw-rwxrwx 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 09:40 file.t

Assign permission to a file by taking reference of any other file

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You can copy permission from one file to another. Here I have a file
named a1.txt whose permission is something like “-rw-r–r–“.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l a1.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 07:21 a1.txt

Now I want to assign the same permission to my another file

named a2.txt. You can do so using Linux chmod command with
argument –reference. Refer the command below.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod --reference=a1.txt a2.txt

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ ls -l a2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 elinuxbook elinuxbook 0 Feb 20 07:22 a2.txt

Assign Permission Recursively

I have a directory named data, in which I have so many files and I

want to give permission to all of them at once instead of manually
one by one. To so you can use the Linux chmod command with
argument -R. This will help you to give permission Recursively.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod -R ugo+rwx data/

Numerical Way :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod -R 777 data/

Assign permission with Verbose output

You can get output a er assigning permission to any

files/directories by using Linux chmod command with argument -v.
Refer the command below.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod -v 777 file.txt

mode of 'file.txt' changed from 0664 (rw-rw-r--) to 0777

Assign permission with output (This command will give output

only if there is any changes)

chmod command with argument -c also do’s the same thing as

Verbose output (i.e. -v). But it will show the output only if there is
any changes in permission. If you are assigning same permission
then it won’t show any output.

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elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod -c 755 file.txt

mode of 'file.txt' changed from 0777 (rwxrwxrwx) to 0755

Assigning Permission by ignoring/solving errors

To avoid any erroes or to rectify any errors during assigning

permission you can use Linux chmod command with argument -f.
Refer the command below.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod -f 755 file.txt

For chmod command Help

For chmod command more options and arguments you can use the
below command.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod --help

Usage: chmod [OPTION]... MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
or: chmod [OPTION]... OCTAL-MODE FILE...
or: chmod [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...
Change the mode of each FILE to MODE.
With --reference, change the mode of each FILE to that o

-c, --changes like verbose but report only wh

-f, --silent, --quiet suppress most error messages
-v, --verbose output a diagnostic for every f
--no-preserve-root do not treat '/' specially (th
--preserve-root fail to operate recursively on
--reference=RFILE use RFILE's mode instead of MOD
-R, --recursive change files and directories re
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit

Each MODE is of the form '[ugoa]*([-+=]([rwxXst]*|[ugo])

GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/

Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/core
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) chmod invoca

Check chmod command version

You can use the Linux chmod command with argument –version to
check the version of installed chmod command version.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ chmod --version

chmod (GNU coreutils) 8.25
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.o
This is free software: you are free to change and redist
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

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We have tried our best to include all possible Linux chmod

command with examples. If something missed out you can
comment below and we will include that on our article.

If you found this article useful then Like us, Share this post on your
preferred Social media, Subscribe our Newsletter OR if you have
something to say then feel free to comment on the comment box
below.

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